Instrument-actuating device for knitting-machines.



R. w. soon. INSTRUMENT ACTUATING DEVICE FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MIG SDI I915.

Pmma Jgn. 16, 191?,

W07 ywga ROBERT W. SCOTT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. ASSIGNOR T0 SCOTT & WILLIAMS,

- INCORPORATED, OF CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY,

A. CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

INSTRUMENT-AOTUATING nnvron roe KNITTING-MACHINES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LRoennr W. SCOTT, a citizen of the United States, and resident of 'Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Instrument-Actuating Devices for Knitting-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to knitting machines having devices intended to be operated at regular intervals in the production ofthe fabric, as at recurrent courses separated by a plurality of courses during which the device is not operative, and having further means for rendering the device idle or operative in the above stated manner.

I shall describe my improvement in connection with a needle cam adapted to be actuated at intervals of a plurality of courses to clear the loops beneath the latches of certain abnormal needles, as one instance only of an instrument desired to be rendered inoperative for a season and thereafter to be rendered alternately operative and inoperative at short periods; but many other obvious uses will occur to those skilled in the art.

One object of my invention is to provide a device of this nature which may be left in either of its adjusted positions during a season of idleness, as predetermined by the mechanism.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a right side elevation of a knitting machine showing so much of the mechanism as is necessary to enable my new devices to be understood; Fig. 2 is a plan; and Fig. 3 is a detail section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1, in machines of the type illustrated the driving and control mechanism may includea power shaft 30 through which the machine is driven, and a pattern or cam shaft 80 carrying pattern surfaces to determine the orderly operation of the parts. The driving devices may include a shaft actuated from the drive shaft 30 by a pinion on said shaft and a gear 65 rotating at a rate less than the rate of shaft 30. The rotary element of the knitting head, not shown, may rotate in unison with the shaft 30which is driven by the pulley 47 the gear 65 rotating at a prede-' termined ratio with respect to the rate of the knitting head, for instance making one revothe cam Specification of Letters .Patent. Patented Jan, :16. 1917.

Application filed August 30, 1915.

Serial No. 47,951.

strument, such as a clearing cam 416, for instance such a cam employed to clear the latches of long-latched needles distributed among the normal needles, and I may pro vide a carriage for such a cam 416, consisting of a horizontal-bent lever 420 pivoted at E, said lever having a depending'portion 423 and being spring-held by a tension spring 426, so that under the tension of said spring it tends to rock upon the pivot E to withdraw the cam 416 to an outer, inoperative position with respect to the needles with which it cooperates. As described and claimed in my application Serial No. 853,053 filed July 25, 1914, such a lever 420 and cam 416 may be rocked about the pivot E at intervals of a plurality of rotations of the, rotary element of the knitting head by means of cams a, and b adjustably fastened on the face of the gear 65, reacting with'a plunger carried by the depending part 423 of the lever 420, when permitted by connection such 4 as the bell-crank lever 110 cooperating with pattern indications carried by the shaft 80. When the cam 416 is desired not to be withdrawn from its inner active position for a and to hold the cam 416 in its inner operative position with respect to the needles. As explained in my said application, when at the end of a cycle of operations or for other purposes, it was desired to cease operating 416 butat the same time to retain it in its outer inoperative position, the machine was organized to stop when the plun ger was opposite the 1rgap between camsa, and b, the lever 110 at t e same time being replunger out of range of the cams a and b, v

leased to permitspring 426 to remove the plunger inward into the gap between the cams, but not out of their path;

. I shall now describe means for controlling the operation of a pattern-controlled device such as the lever or carrier 420, so as to predetermine its operation at short intervals corresponding to :revolutions or parts of revolutions of the rotary element of the machine,- and automatically to bring the device to rest in one or in another position, for instance 1n the construction shown-with the Bil 1 .I so hold cam cam in its inner position in operative contact Will} the needles or with the cam L16 in withdrawn outer position, and out of cue needles. have so orgam ic d my d. vices as to render this positioning operated independent of the is member moi-omens oil actuating device, such as on 65, so as not-to require the machine to be brought to a stop to enable .16 or the like to be rendered in- The actuating device may as berore and move plunger or follower suitably fastened'for adjustment to lever 420. As illustrated in l and 3, olunger 42d terminates-in a heel; is Hav ng an arched opening large enoug y to pass the cams a and 1) WI. en one posit-ion illustrated in Fig. 3

by the connection as to bring; the earl; is oi? bhe plunger into the 0'; she cams on and Z), and when the lever 420 is to be so positioned as so leave the cam an idle but in ice inner operacive position, p 'iger 42-1 is positioned ons- Wardly as illuso alzed in l and in dotted lines in 3, To produce the above-indicated movements, the shaft carries in suit- 'able relation a) the other indications controlling the cycle of operations of the machine high cams 0, d, and e reacting with the lever 110 to hold the plun. or 424; in

outward position, a d suitable interi'nediatc concentric surf; and 5/ to hold the plunger e2 so the part 70 is countered and moved. by labe earns a and Z), and low a m, which will permit the lever 110 to move under the stress of spring 426 to position. the pars in annular groove 71,. The low pa '1, of the cam so madeup and called by the shaft 88 may be associated with a cam lug 106 cooperating with a belt shipper lo stop the machine, so

as co permi' lilie-needle-actuaiing cam 4:16 to be WllfllidiflWll prior stoppage of the ma chine. Cure use of this arrangement is to W1 lidraw the cam 416 when the needles are lzo' 'be leveled to receive a transferred fabric section during stoppage of the machine;

.lii, Will be observed chat with the described devices, the machine and the gear 65 may be pcrmictcd to rotate during any desired limeas for the operasion of leveling devices.

i v hile l have described a preferred arranaerncni; in Whicn lire pattern surface con trolling lever 1.10 is comprised of came 0, d, c, -71 on 80, ii; is obvious that the provided with cams a and Z) to pattern surface for this urpose may be alatached to any part, of te machine moved during the making of the product in any convenient manner.

Vi hile I have described my invention in connection 'ivith a specific movable instrument to be operated by it, this specific em bodiment is illustrative only, my invention relating to means for operating any of the genus of Worked parls or instruments for producing changes in the knitting by 'inten fcring with any of the agencies of the machine, of which the instance given is one species only.

What I claim is:

l. A knitting machine having in combina lion a movable member or instrument, actuating device therefor moving in a fixed. path, a follower for said actuating device forming a part of and movable with said movable member, and pattern-controlled means for shifting said follower from said path into idle positions out of contact with said device on each side of said path.

2. In a knitting" machine, thecombinaibion of a movable member, an actuating care therefor rotating in a circular path, a fol lower for said actuating cam connected in said member, and pattern controlled means for shifting said iiollovver from said circular a path into idle positions on each side thereof.

3. A knitting machine having a frequen y actuated part for effecting changes in the knitting, an actuating device rotating in a circular path, and a follower forming part of and movable with a connection bet/Ween said something device and said part, in com binasion Wlbll means for positioning said follower in said circular path, Wholly inside of path, and Wholly outside of said pash, at predetermined times, whereby respectively to actuate and to render idle in cvvo different positions frequently accuaized par-i s,

A knitting machine having a frequently actuated part such as a movable needle cam, an actuating cam rotating in a circular pa sh, and hooked follower forming part of a connection between said actuating device and said part, having an opening therein, in

combination with means for positioning said follower with iris free end in said circular path with its opening in said pash, with its free end outside of said path, at

predetermined times, respecsively to actuate i said part, and. to hold said part idle in two different positions 5. A knitting machine having a member adapted to be actuated at frequent intervals, in combination with means for holding sa'd member in dificrent idlc positions compris ing a carrier for said member, an actuating cam for said carrier rotating in a circular pah, a hooked follower on said carrier mov able in the plane of recession of said ice and pattern means for positioning said follower to contact withand be moved by said actuating cam, and in any of a plurality of idle positions in said plane of rotation and out of operative contact with said cam.

6. In a knitting machine, the combination of a movable member such as a needle-cam, an actuating device therefor moving in a fixed path, a follower for said actuating device connected to and movable with said needle cam, a pattern surface, and a'connection between said pattern surface and said follower for limiting movement of said follower in one direction, said surface having copies of this patent may be obtained for positions with respect to the path of said actuating device.

7. In an actuatmg device for knitting machines, the combination of a rotating actuating member having cams thereon in an annular space, with a follower movable radially of said rotating member having an arched.

part adapted to bridge said annular space.

Signed by me at Boston, Massachusetts,

this twenty-seventh day of August, 1915. ROBERT W. SCOTT.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0." v 

